Got Ears?

I've found that my listening acuity improved the more I replaced things. Granted, it was a very slow process but every swap, be it cable, amp, CDP, footers, gave an immediate, if not huge, difference. To my ears, no two things sounded the same.

With that came the deliberation as to what sounded better. No two people will hear the same thing so trust your ears. Too many differences, appreciations and rankings of importance vary from one individual to another. What is obvious to you will have others shaking their heads in disbelief, or worse, dismay.

Keep in mind that some, if not most people, can't hear or don't give a damn about subtle differences. Their interests don't go as far as yours and there is at play here a deliberate refusal to acknowledge what is obvious simply out of a lack of interest or what's rarely discussed, jealousy. They covet.

Your girlfriends lack of understanding is from not having a need to appreciate how you do it since she's been immersed in music all her life. She's had no need to approach it from your perspective. All music sounds good to her, even that which may not be as refined sounding as you'd like since it's at least, music. Hold her close: her ears will eventually come in handy!

All the best,
Nonoise

+ 1 for the boom box crowd.

:-)

What you refer to as a 'developing ear', I refer to as training an ear. It basically only comes from experience. Learning what to listen for and how to listen. It's not rocket science, it just takes experience: time, patience and money to try many varied pieces of gear.

I do believe that the ear is continuosly being trained, or developed, just as any other skill (say driving), until you finally reach the point when your skills begin to deteriorate.

Speaking as a musician who has helped many people train their ears, ear training is like any other kind of training. It takes regular practice. The more you work at it, the better you will become. Almost anyone can improve their listening ability, no matter whether it is learning to detect slight differences between two different tubes, or systems, or whatever, or the more complicated listening musicians themselves have to do.

Rather than make ear training specific to trying to hear differences between pieces of equipment though, I always like to encourage audiophiles to train their musical ears in general. Working on this greatly improves all types of listening. Learning more about music in general will also greatly increase your enjoyment in listening to whatever kind of music you like to listen to. It is easier to pick out what type of equipment you want when you know much more about what it is you are trying to listen for. Many audiophiles know a very great deal about the science of music playback, but shockingly little about music itself and how it is put together. It is especially shocking and saddening to me when I encounter someone who has spent six figures on their system yet knows almost nothing about what they are actually using the system for.

I always recommend a great little book the famous composer Aaron Copland wrote, entitled What To Listen For In Music. It is an excellent book written in layman's terms, and will increase your enjoyment in listening to whatever kind of music you like to listen to (it is not just for classical music, though it does focus on that, since it is generally much more complex - if you only listen to say rock, then what the book will teach you will be that much easier to apply).